She didn’t finish first in the rankings but Serena Williams still walked away with the WTA Player of the Year award on Thursday, the WTA announced.

Serena finished an impressive 2012 season with a 59-4 record, seven titles on three different surfaces including Wimbledon, the Olympics, the US Open and the year-ending WTA Championships. And she ended the year on a 12-match win streak and having won 48 of her last 50 matches.

Serena was also impeccable against her chief rivals compiling a jaw-dropping 12 straight victories against Top 4 players winning 18 of 19.

Likely due to her lack of play the second half the season, Serena finished ranked No. 3, almost 1200 points behind No. 1 Victoria Azarenka and 645 behind No. 2 Maria Sharapova. Serena played just three events following the early August Olympics.

Azarenka won six titles including her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open. Sharapova completed her career Slam at the French Open which was also the last of her three crowns on the year.

This is the fourth time Williams has won Player Of The Year, having also won it in 2002 (when she finished No.1), 2008 (when she finished No.2 behind Jelena Jankovic) and 2009 (when she finished No.1).

Congrats to Serena deffinetly the female player of the year,Azarenka finished the year no1,but Serena was without a doubt the best player this year,winning Wimbledon,USO,and the WTF this girl seems to go from strength to strength,i believe only Vika at her very best is the only player who can challenge her ATM,even after her illness its as though shes never been away,and she still seems hungry for more,a scarey prospect for all the pretenders to her throne,well done Serena.

If ever there were a case for the stupidity of WTA rankings versus results in majors this is it. I understand she didn’t play that much in the second half of the year, and thus she hasn’t amassed the points of her chief “rivals” (if you can call them that), but it still makes no sense to me that she won the equivalent of 3 majors (if you combine the 685 points from her Olympic gold with the 1500 points from the YEC) and is still ranked 3rd.

Once again the WTA rankings did not correctly reflect the success Serena had this year. As in other years, when she played fewer tournaments than the other top women, her ranking did not reflect the fact that she pretty much dominated the field this year. So, I guess this award, helps to make up for that.

It is OK to blame WTA but what about Serena playing like the others do, enough number of tournaments per year, in that case she would be entitled (and her fans) to claim that WTA ranking is wrong. Did anybody asked her/himself why is she doing (year after year) that while the others are going from tournament to tournament. OK maybe she is so above the others that she doesn’t need to, but in that case don’t complain about ranking system, it is same for everyone, same as ATP. You have to earn your points by playing not pick and choose where and when you are going to play, or maybe there is genuine reason for doing that, skiping certain parts of the year … just guessing, we will find out in about ten-twenty years time.
Hold on … I am ducking for the cover:)

Serena is 30 years old, and has had some knee surgery, plus the foot and lung embolism problems. IMO, she is keeping the WTA interesting and adding excitement to the tour.

It’s OK to criticize her, if you don’t like her, but the whole picture should be viewed with respect to her full participation the on tour year-round before doing so. It’s too bad Serena beats up on some fans’ faves. I’m sure if it were the other way around we’d be reading congrats.

I’d rather see her play 10 tournaments every year and keep on playing for 5 or more years, rather than knock herself out for 2 years, playing all year, and be burned out, which would hasten her retirement.

Been world no 1 is amazing im sure,but i very much doubt its at the forefront of Serenas mind,her main focus is on bagging GS,and im sure if you ask previous no1s the same question Wozniacki,Jankovic,Safina they would all say the same thing,she has said before shed rather be ranked no 3 or whatever and have 14 GS,than be ranked 1 with no slams,she said the same thing in an interview once,when asked do you see yourself as no1,she said no i see myself as no2,but we all know who the real no1 is when talking about Safina,she was not been bitchy just honest in her reply,Aloks right she brings much needed excitement to the womans tour.

@alison, You’re correct, Serena’s focus is not the No.1 ranking, it’s the GS titles that matter to her. She’s aiming to win more GS titles because in the end, it’s all that matters to her and the other players.

Considering she’s been No.1 many times, I don’t think it’s that important to her. She does like to stay in the top 4 though, to obtain a good draw, but I’ve heard her say at the AO a few years ago that she’s a very dangerous floater and the draws don’t bother her. After hearing that, I wouldn’t want to be across the court playing against her.

Thanks Alok yeah,it seems whomever is stood in front of Serena she doesnt seem to care,as she knows she can beat them,she is indeed a scarey prospect,and after her illness it seems like shes rolled back the years and is only getting started,still hungry for more,she lost some years with other interests unfortunatly,and its safe to say i believe she would be on the way to surpassing Steffi Graff if it hadnt been for that still might who knows,but im sure she will be kicking herslf.

Colin yeah completely agree,our girls Laura and Heather both had an amazing year,in fact it was a great year in general for the Brits,Laura took scalps of veterans Clijsters and Li Na at the USO,as well as scaring Schiavoni at Wimbledon i think,and Heather had a good run at the slams too,so yeah i do think it deserves a thread,come on Ben Pronin,Sean Randal and staff lets have a thread on how well the Brits did in tennis this year.